Our present invention relates to a zip wire brassiere of the type in which brassiere cups can be inserted onto and removed from a frame by engaging an edge of the cup in a wire on the frame of the brassiere.
In our application Ser. No. 09/816,786 filed Mar. 23, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,946, we have disclosed various embodiments of underwire assemblies for brassieres, including a system whereby cups of a brassiere can be attached to a frame and thus can be replaceable or interchangeable with respect to the frame and with respect to one another.
Another system in which an underwire assembly can serve for mounting cups is that which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,500.
With respect to such systems, the construction of the channel which forms the more rigid part of the wire assembly and is provided on the frame poses a problem, especially when the channel is injection molded since conventional molding techniques have required that a core be removed by an arcuate motion to release the molded product. Mold constructions for such purposes are expensive and prone to failure and the molding process is time consuming, expensive and frequently unreliable.
Underwire brassieres, moreover, frequently have the drawback that the cup tends to be distorted by the upward forces on shoulder straps which are attached to the cup.
Accordingly, underwire brassieres in general and underwire brassiere assemblies which have portions of the underwire in the cup engageable in channels on the brassiere frame can be significantly improved.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved underwire brassiere whereby drawbacks of earlier systems are obviated.
Another object of this invention is to solve the problem of cup distortion resulting from tension on a shoulder strap of a brassiere.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved method of making a brassiere.
We have discovered that problems of the type mentioned previously can be eliminated in an improved docking system for connecting a shoulder strap to a brassiere wherein the shoulder strap instead of being anchored to the brassiere cup, is connected to the underwire and, in particular, to the channel of the underwire in a brassiere of the type in which the cup has a relatively stiff edge engaging in that channel.
More particularly, the brassiere of the invention has a frame in which the cup-receiving fabric portions are provided with respective channels and the ends of these channels remote from the mid-section of the frame are connected to links for the respective shoulder straps. As a result, upward forces on the shoulder straps are applied to the underwires beneath the cups and thereby lift rather than distort the cups and the breasts of the user received therein.
The invention also comprises a method whereby the channel is formed by injection molding of two channel parts which are then ultrasonically welded together, thereby eliminating the need to withdraw a core in the course of an injection molding process along an arcuate path.
More particularly, the invention can comprise:
a frame having a pair of upwardly concave cup-receiving portions of flexible material joined together at a mid-section of the frame;
a respective upwardly concave curved channel of greater rigidity than the material attached to the frame and extending along each of the upwardly concave cup-receiving portions;
a respective brassiere cup formed with a curved underwire slidably insertable in the respective channel, each underwire and the respective channel being shaped to resist transverse separation forces; and
a respective shoulder strap can be connected to each of the cup-receiving portions at the respective channel.
Each of the channels can then be provided with a shoulder strap link at an end remote from the mid-section and this link can be a press button which has a split mole formation which is pressed into an eye on the channel. The press button link forms a unique docking system for the strap such that the forces on the strap are applied to the frame and are distributed by the respective channel or underwire to the underside of the cup.
The underwires can be formed with members somewhat less rigid than the channel and provided with sewing flanges whereby these members can be stitched to the cup fabric and can form the rigid lower edges of the cup.
Alternatively, the brassiere can comprise:
a frame having a pair of upwardly concave cup-receiving portions of flexible material joined together at a mid-section of the frame;
a respective upwardly concave curved channel of greater rigidity than the material attached to the frame and extending along each of the upwardly concave cup-receiving portions; and
a respective brassiere cup formed with a curved underwire slidably insertable in the respective channel, each underwire and the respective channel being shaped to resist transverse separation forces, each of the channels comprising a pair of arcuate parts ultrasonically welded together.
The method of making the brassiere can comprise:
forming a frame having a pair of upwardly concave cup-receiving portions of flexible material joined together at a mid-section of the frame;
molding a pair of arcuate parts and ultrasonically welding the parts of each pair of parts together to form a respective upwardly concave curved channel of greater rigidity than the material, and attaching the respective channel to the frame along each of the upwardly concave cup-receiving portions; and
providing a respective brassiere cup with a curved underwire slidably insertable in the respective channel, each underwire and the respective channel being shaped to resist transverse separation forces.